joemontes
07-07-2007, 01:46 AM
Because of all the hype regarding Sammy PRAHALIS prodigious talent and since I've never seen her play before, I went to Day 1 of the End of Oregon Trail (EOT) tournament in Oregon City today (Friday, July 6) to watch her play with her Exodus NYC travel team.
And, boy, did I witness the most dazzling display of open court and half court wizardly by a female player, whether it be at the HS level, college level, or even pro level (and I've seen PGs at the highest level like Dawn STALEY and Tisha PENICHEIRO play several times in their career, both during their college years as well as in the WNBA).
Her appearance can really be deceiving - here is a 17-year old, lean gal, with a very feminine stance, who barely stands somewhere between 5'5 and 5'7, probably weighs about 120 lbs, warming up with her teammates while listening to her walkman.
I watched her team play twice, the first being a tournament 1st Round game against a small but feisty Riverside team from Auburn, WA at 4 PM, and then an exhibition game against a very talented Tennessee Flight team at 8 PM.
In the first game vs. the Riverside (WA) team, she already showed her superior ballhandling skills, along with her shake-and-bake, razzle-dazzle style, her ultra-quickness and athleticism. She would time and again single-handedly break a full court press against double team and even triple team. However, her shooting was kind of out-of-sync.
But in the second game vs. a very talented Tennessee Flight team (which boasts of 3 TOP 50 players from the Class of 2008 per hoopgurlz.com rankings, i.e., #16 LaSondra BARRETT/6'1/F, #35 Natalie NOVOSEL/6'0/G, and #43 Candace WOOD/6'0/G, as well as a very promising talent from the Class of 2010 in Lauren AVANT/5'8/G), Sammy upped her play by several notches, as she dominated the offense of her team - be it by leading fastbreak plays, or by breaking the Flight's half court defense with amazing dribble penetration despite constant double teaming or even triple teaming.
And with the Flight leading 40-39 after 5 minutes into the 2nd half, Sammy led the Exodus in a decisive 23-6 run to break open a tight game.
Throughout the game, she hit several mid-range jumpers via the dribble penetration-stop-and-pop mode, 2 long-range bombs from beyond the 3-point line, and a number of eye-popping dribble penetrations starting from 30-feet away, and all the way to the basket, resulting in spectacular passes to her teammates or finishing around the hoop with ala-Michael Jordan moves vs. the Flight's post players.
And in one half court set that will forever be instilled in my memory, she starts out from 30-feet way from the basket with the top of a man-zone confronting her, weaves her way to the left side of the top of the circle then back to the top of the circle where she is met by 2 Flight players. Then, all of a sudden, she does a clockwise pirouette to the left side, then dribbles back toward the center, then does a shake-and-bake move in front of a 3rd defender which she then eludes by doing a quick crossover to her left, then, after a few more dribbles, finally elevates for an apparent lay-up shot with her left hand but, seeing that she is right in front of the defense's post player and her outstretched arms, transfers the ball in mid-air to her right hand for a scoop shot that banks in from the front of the basket.
Simply amazing! And, boy, can she sky...really sky!
Toward the end of the Exodus-Flight game, I approached Chris Hansen of hoopgurlz.com and asked, "is there any more exciting/dazzling player at the HS level than PRAHALIS?" to which he immediately retorts "Nope, you're seeing the most exciting HS player in the country right now!"
"And in today's game," he continues, "she is REALLY ON because she is kind of upset..."
"Upset about what?" I asked. It turns out that this same Tennessee Flight team beat them by one point in a previous tournament, so that loss might have been a motivation for her in this game.
And, boy, did I witness the most dazzling display of open court and half court wizardly by a female player, whether it be at the HS level, college level, or even pro level (and I've seen PGs at the highest level like Dawn STALEY and Tisha PENICHEIRO play several times in their career, both during their college years as well as in the WNBA).
Her appearance can really be deceiving - here is a 17-year old, lean gal, with a very feminine stance, who barely stands somewhere between 5'5 and 5'7, probably weighs about 120 lbs, warming up with her teammates while listening to her walkman.
I watched her team play twice, the first being a tournament 1st Round game against a small but feisty Riverside team from Auburn, WA at 4 PM, and then an exhibition game against a very talented Tennessee Flight team at 8 PM.
In the first game vs. the Riverside (WA) team, she already showed her superior ballhandling skills, along with her shake-and-bake, razzle-dazzle style, her ultra-quickness and athleticism. She would time and again single-handedly break a full court press against double team and even triple team. However, her shooting was kind of out-of-sync.
But in the second game vs. a very talented Tennessee Flight team (which boasts of 3 TOP 50 players from the Class of 2008 per hoopgurlz.com rankings, i.e., #16 LaSondra BARRETT/6'1/F, #35 Natalie NOVOSEL/6'0/G, and #43 Candace WOOD/6'0/G, as well as a very promising talent from the Class of 2010 in Lauren AVANT/5'8/G), Sammy upped her play by several notches, as she dominated the offense of her team - be it by leading fastbreak plays, or by breaking the Flight's half court defense with amazing dribble penetration despite constant double teaming or even triple teaming.
And with the Flight leading 40-39 after 5 minutes into the 2nd half, Sammy led the Exodus in a decisive 23-6 run to break open a tight game.
Throughout the game, she hit several mid-range jumpers via the dribble penetration-stop-and-pop mode, 2 long-range bombs from beyond the 3-point line, and a number of eye-popping dribble penetrations starting from 30-feet away, and all the way to the basket, resulting in spectacular passes to her teammates or finishing around the hoop with ala-Michael Jordan moves vs. the Flight's post players.
And in one half court set that will forever be instilled in my memory, she starts out from 30-feet way from the basket with the top of a man-zone confronting her, weaves her way to the left side of the top of the circle then back to the top of the circle where she is met by 2 Flight players. Then, all of a sudden, she does a clockwise pirouette to the left side, then dribbles back toward the center, then does a shake-and-bake move in front of a 3rd defender which she then eludes by doing a quick crossover to her left, then, after a few more dribbles, finally elevates for an apparent lay-up shot with her left hand but, seeing that she is right in front of the defense's post player and her outstretched arms, transfers the ball in mid-air to her right hand for a scoop shot that banks in from the front of the basket.
Simply amazing! And, boy, can she sky...really sky!
Toward the end of the Exodus-Flight game, I approached Chris Hansen of hoopgurlz.com and asked, "is there any more exciting/dazzling player at the HS level than PRAHALIS?" to which he immediately retorts "Nope, you're seeing the most exciting HS player in the country right now!"
"And in today's game," he continues, "she is REALLY ON because she is kind of upset..."
"Upset about what?" I asked. It turns out that this same Tennessee Flight team beat them by one point in a previous tournament, so that loss might have been a motivation for her in this game.